Coming up in October are two very important advocacy meetings.
I want to stress that these are not you run of the mill "show up and support MTB" meetings. IMO these are once in a generation meeting that will act as turning points in the respective areas. So if you are anywhere near these areas at the dates these meeting are happening, please show up and lend your voice to the cause.
High Park (Toronto)
First on the calendar is the High Park Bike Park Open House. Wednesday, October 19, 6:00pm – 8:30pm at the Rousseau Room, Swansea Town Hall, 95 Lavinia Ave, Toronto, ON.
Here is a map.
This will be the single biggest precedent for bike parks in Ontario. If a bike park can be built, and be successful in High Park, then it can fly everywhere. Because the City of Toronto is going to have to do everything in a correct and proper fashion, from community engagement, to design, construction and maintenance, we should be able to point to it for the need for bike parks, and how to go about doing it.
From the City of Toronto’s announcement:
This is to inform you that City of Toronto staff have recently closed an informal BMX freestyle area (skills park) in High Park to restore an ecologically significant area. The site has been replanted, fenced off and is currently being monitored for any further cycling activity.
A new skills parks, offering technically challenging riding in an accessible and controlled environment, will be built on the site of the existing parking lot in the south east corner of High Park.
City staff are currently working with accomplished skills park designer, Jay Hoots www.hoots.ca, to develop the new site that will include appropriate off-road cycling features, skills areas and landscape amenities.
Please join Jay Hoots and City of Toronto staff on Wednesday, October 19 from 6:00-8:30pm, at the Rousseau Room, Swansea Town Hall, to participate in the design consultation for the new skills park in High Park. Jay wants to hear from you.
TORBA (an IMBA affiliate in Toronto) is coordinating things. You can let them know you intend on attending through this facebook event
Copeland Forest (Barrie)
Next up is the Copeland Forest Riders Meeting. What’s up here? The MNR has asked Couchiching Conservancy to do some work on the Copeland property, one of those things is to create a stakeholders group consisting of the major user groups. It may surprise some that there is no MTB club in the Barrie area who takes on advocacy and land access issues. Hopefully this will get the ball rolling. At some point the MRN/Couch is going to ask "how can mountain bikers be good stewards of the forest?" We better not only have an answer, but a local group that is willing to stand behind that answer.
The CTS club has been very interested in filling this roll. They invited me up for a ride, and even filmed me doing a kind of PSA of sorts. Check it out.
The open house will be on Sunday October 23, from 2-4pm at Craighurst Community Hall, 3346 Penetanguishene Rd. (Hwy 93).
Here is a map.
From the announcement:
With ever-increasing recreational pressure on the Copeland Forest, and a Stewardship Initiative under way, the time is right for mountainbikers who love the Copeland to get organized and tackle the issues. We hope you will join us. There is a "forward email" link at the bottom of this email so you can forward to others who should know about the meeting.
Come out and learn about the Copeland Forest Stewardship Initiative, and what it will mean for those who love to mountainbike in the Copeland. Dorthea Hangaard from the Couchiching Conservancy will make a brief presentation and be available for questions.
Please pass the word to all your riding buddies. The more people who attend the more impact we’ll have, and we need to have an impact on these two.